Fr^  nds,  Society  of 


1 


\      Narrative  of  Facts  and 
^     and  Circunstsnces  that  have 

tended  to  -oroduce  a 
^  cecession  from  the  Society 
of  Friends,  in  Neu-England 
"^'early  Meeting. 


NOV 


.\-\  14- 


V 


NOV  1918 


NARRATIVE 


OF 


FACTS  AND  CIRCUMSTANCES 


THAT  HAVE  TENDED  TO  PRODUCE  A  SECESSION  FRO»f 


THE  SOCIETY  OF  FRIENDS, 


NEW-ENGLAND  YEARLY  MEETING, 


PROVIDENCE: 
PRINTED  BY  KNOWLES  AND  VOSE. 

184  5. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/narrativeoffactsOOsoci 


NARRATIVE. 


It  is  for  the  cause  of  truth,  and  for  the  information  of 
those  who  from  the  want  of  a  true  understanding  of  the 
case,  are  Hable  to  be  deceived  by  unfounded  and  improp- 
er representations;  that  we  feel  called  upon  to  set  forth 
the  following  account  of  the  secession  from  Friends, 
that  has  taken  place  within  this  Yearly  Meeting. 

In  order  to  give  a  faithful  history,  it  seems  neces- 
sary to  go  back  several  years,  and  advert  to  some  circum- 
stances that  then  transpired ;  and  unpleasant  as  is  the 
duty,  we  are  subjected  to  tlie  painful  necessity  of  expo- 
sing the  course  of  an  individual,  formerly  a  minister  in 
unity  with  us,  who  has  been  prominent  as  a  leader  in 
this  schism,  and,  for  the  same  reason,  we  are  induced  to 
state  various  other  causes  and  circumstances  that  have 
tended  to  produce  the  secession  which  we  are  about  to 
describe. 

In  the  year  1832,  John  Wilbur  was  liberated  to  make 
a  religious  visit  to  Friends  i:i  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 
While  absent  on  this  visit,  he  wrote  a  series  of  Letters 
relating  to  the  doctrines  and  practices  of  the  Society  of 
Friends,  which  were  published,  having  evidently  been 


4 


written  for  that  purpose,  without  being  submitted  to  tliti 
inspection  of  any  body  of  the  Society  authorized  to  ex- 
amine such  publications ;  a  procedure  which  he  well 
knew  was  viewed  by  our  Yearly  Meeting  as  always  im- 
proper, and  contrary  to  the  express  provisions  of  our  Dis- 
cipline. As  this  publication  was  made  but  a  short  time 
before  his  return  home,  no  action  was  taken  in  the  case 
until  he  arrived  ;  when  the  Meeting  for  Sufferings,  feel- 
ing that  a  dangerous  precedent  had  been  set  by  a  Minis- 
ter, and  former  member  of  their  body,  thought  some  ex- 
planation was  called  for  from  him  ,•  and  they  named  a 
committee  of  three  Friends  to  have  an  interview  with 
him  on  the  subject ;  but  that  there  might  be  no  unneces- 
sary exposure,  no  minute  was  made  in  the  case.  This 
committee  sought  an  interview  with  him,  and  labored  in 
tenderness  and  love  to  convince  him  of  the  impropriety 
of  departing  from  the  Discipline  of  his  own  Yearly  Meet- 
ing, while  traveling  as  a  Minister  with  the  requisite  cer- 
tificates of  that  Meeting,  as  well  as  of  the  hurtful  ten- 
dency in  an  abstract  point  of  view,  of  encouraging  pub- 
lications on  doctrinal  subjects,  without  the  previous  in- 
vestigation and  approbation  of  some  authorized  body  of 
the  Society.  But  so  far  from  giving  any  satisfaction  to' 
this  Committee,  he  manifested  a  disposition  to  justify 
himself,  and  to  call  in  question  the  correctness  of  the  pro- 
cedure of  the  Meeting  for  Sufferings  in  the  case.  After 
considerable  delay  and  much  ineffectual  labour,  as  the 
publication  had  received  but  Httle  circulation  in  this  coun- 
try, and  as  a  desire  was  felt  to  exercise  all  tenderness  and 
forbearance  towards  him,  the  subject  was  suffered  to  rest, 
so  far  as  any  official  action  wag  concerned.  But  we  have 
reason  to  believe  that  this  honest  concern,  and  faithful 
labour  in  the  case  by  his  brethren,  was  not  received  by 
him  in  the  spirit  in  which  they  were  offered.  A  want 
of  that  charity,  unity  and  love,  which  so  become  breth- 
ren, was  painfully  observable  in  his  conduct  towards  manf 


5 

Friends,  so  as  to  cause  uneasiness  on  his  account,  and  to 
induce  individual  labor  to  be  extended  to  him. 

It  was  under  the  profession  of  supporting  sound  doc- 
trines, that  he  pursued  a  course,  and  indulged  in  a  spirit 
of  detraction,  tending  to  injure  the  religious  character  of 
divers  Friends  in  our  own  and  other  Yearly  Meetings, 
representing  them  as  unsound  in  doctrine,  and  holding 
views  inconsistent  with  those  always  held  by  the  Society 
of  Friends.  Letters  were  written  and  circulated  by  him 
having  this  end  in  view,  and  intended  to  lessen  the  stand- 
ing of  individuals,  and  to  obstruct  their  religious  labours. 

In  the  autumn  of  1837,  John  Wilbur  made  a  religious 
visit  within  the  limits  of  New- York  Yearly  Meeting  ; 
and  during  the  course  of  this  journey  he  continued  to  in- 
dulge in  this  detracting  spirit,  both  in  speaking  and  writ- 
ing, until  he  produced  much  exercise  with  well-concern- 
ed Friends, — Ministers,  Elders,  and  others, — among 
whom  he  was  traveling,  and  some  of  them  treated  with 
him  on  this  account.  In  one  of  the  conferences  held 
with  him  upon  this  subject,  he  used  the  following  lan- 
guage ;  "  I  consider  the  course  I  am  taking  in  respect  to 
the  Friend  from  England  and  his  writings,  to  be  in  the 
line  of  my  religious  duty,  and  this  I  hold  to  be  more 
binding  upon  me  than  any  rules  of  Discipline." 

After  his  return  home  from  this  visit,  he  continued  to 
manifest  the  same  unwarrantable  course,  producing  much 
uneasiness  in  the  minds  of  those  friends  to  whom  know- 
ledge of  it  came,  and  who  felt  the  importance  both  of 
supporting  our  own  Discipline, and  of  treating  other  Year- 
ly Meetings  with  that  christian  confidence  and  regard  to 
which  as  bodies  in  unity  with  us  they  were  justly  en- 
titled, and  tender  labor  was  bestowed  on  him  by  different 
individuals,  to  induce  him  to  desist  from  his  improper 
proceedings. 

In  the  7th  month,  1839,  a  minister  and  aged  elder 


6 


sought  an  interview  with  him,  the  progress  and  result  of 
which  are  thus  described  by  the  latter : 

"  The  manner  in  which  John  Wilbur  had  spoken  of  a 
Friend,  when  about  to  visit  this  country  as  a  minister, 
having  the  approbation  of  his  friends  at  home,  and  by 
them  liberated  in  the  usual  way,  gave  some  of  his  friends 
concern  on  his  account;  and  after  the  friend  arrived  in 
this  country,  John  Wilbur  being  then  out  on  a  religious 
visit  to  Friends  in  some  parts  of  the  State  of  New-York, 
continued  to  manifest  his  aversion  to  the  friend  and  to  his 
writings,  as  I  understood.  In  the  course  of  the  following 
summer,  I  believe  in  the  7th  month,  a  friend  from  New- 
Hampshire  called  on  me  to  accompany  him  on  a  religious 
visit  to  the  meetings  of  Friends  in  South  Kingstown 
Monthly  Meeting.  I  bore  him  company  ;  and  after  hav- 
ing dined  at  John  Wilbur's,  we  asked  for  a  personal  and 
select  interview  with  him  ;  this  was  readily  granted,  and 
the  subject  of  the  good  order  of  the  Society  in  reference 
to  the  manner  in  which  ministers  traveling  abroad  on 
religious  concerns,  in  the  authority  of  the  Church,  ought 
to  treat  each  other,  was  brought  into  view,  and  contrast- 
ed with  the  course  he  had  pursued  while  out  on  a  reli- 
gious visit  to  Friends  in  the  State  of  New-York.  We 
endeavored  to  convince  him  that  his  manner  of  treating 
the  friend  above  referred  to,  boih  in  speaking  and  writing 
respecting  him,  was  not  only  contrary  to  the  express  scrip- 
tural injunction  of  doing  to  others  as  we  would  that  oth- 
ers should  do  to  us,  but  was  likewise  contrary  to  the  in^ 
junction  of  our  own  Discipline.  He  appeared  disposed, 
and  repeatedly  attempted  to  shield  himself  by  alleging 
that  the  writings  of  the  friend  were  unsound.  We  as 
often  unhesitatingly  assured  him,  that  our  concern  to 
have  an  interview  with  him  had  no  reference  to  writings, 
but  that  our  object  was  to  persuade  him  to  refrain  from 
pursuing  such  a  course.  The  friend  was  here,  recom- 
mended to  us  by  a  meeting  with  which  we  were  in  uni- 
ty ;  should  he  advance  any  thing  nnsonnd  in  public  or  in 
private,  or  otherwise  conduct  himself  disorderly,  ho  would 
become  a  subject,  li'ie  all  other  ministers  traveling  among 
us,  over  whom  the  care  of  the  Society  ought  to  be  ex- 
tended. 

The  conversation  was  open  and  free,  and  he  was  re- 
peatedly enjoined  not  to  blend  our  concern  for  him  as 


7 


having  any  connection  with,  or  reference  to  the  writings 
of  the  friend.  And  we  again  assured  him  that  it  was  a 
concern  growing  out  of,  as  we  believed,  a  clear  convic- 
tion in  our  own  minds  that  his  past  course  in  reference  to 
that  individual,  would  ultimately,  if  persisted  in,  be  pro- 
ductive of  serious  loss  to  himself  and  injury  to  the  So- 
ciety. 

It  may  not  be  improper  here  to  remark,  that  I  did  not 
converse  with  an  individual  member  of  South  Kingstown 
Monthly  Meeting  on  the  subject,  that  did  not  manifest  re- 
gret at  the  manner  J.  W".  was  conducting  towards  the 
minister  referred  to." 

In  the  following  winter,  1S39-40,  John  Wilbur  hav- 
ing obtained  a  certificate  from  South-Kingstown  Monthly 
Meeting,  to  enable  him  to  visit  some  of  the  meetings  in 
this  Yearly  Meeting,  a  committee  then  under  appoint- 
ment from  the  Yearly  Meeting  of  Ministers  and  Elders, 
were  tenderly  concerned  on  his  account,  and  a  few  of  their 
number  were  deputed  to  have  an  interview  with  him 
previous  to  his  leaving  home  to  enter  on  this  engage- 
ment ;  but  failing  to  effect  their  object,  they  addressed  to 
him  the  following  communication,  through  one  of  their 
number.    The  letter  is  dated  1  mo.  6,  1840. 

Having  written  thee  a  few  days  ago,  and  forwarded 
it  by  mail,  at  the  request  of  some  of  the  Select  Yearly 
Meeting's  committee,  proposing  an  interview  with  thoe 
at  our  house  on  the  fifth  inst.,  the  few  friends  referred  to 
came  at  the  time  appointed,  but  as  thou  wast  not  present, 
— which  we  readily  admitted  may  have  been  occasioned 
by  reasonable  causes — it  was  proposed  that  I  should 
again  address  a  few  lines  to  thee,  pointing  out  in  some 
measure  the  subjects  of  concern  that  induced  the  com- 
mittee of  the  Select  Yearly  Meeting,  assembled  from  va- 
rious parts  of  the  Yearly  Meeting — twelve  in  number — 
to  seek  an  interview  with  thyself  as  proposed,  and  named 
a  few  friends  for  this  purpose.  Such  an  interview  was 
more  desirable  than  correspondence,  and  would  probably 
have  been  further  attempted,  but  from  uncertainty  of  thy 
being  at  home,  and  from  the  expectation  of  those  friends 
that  were  here,  of  leaving  their  several  homes  to-day  or 
tortuorrow,  to  go  in  a  different  direction. 


8 


I  feel  it  to  be  a  very  delicate  situation  to  be  placed  in, 
that  of  being  the  instrument  to  convey  the  religious  im- 
pressions and  views  of  the  Committee ;  and  probably  I 
should  have  at  once  excused  myself,  had  not  the  com- 
mittee named  me  as  one  of  those  who  were  requested  to 
have  such  interview.  If  I  should  be  found  incorrect,  my 
apology  to  them  and  thyself  must  be,  that  I  was  not  pre- 
sent with  the  committee  in  their  deliberations,  and  have 
not  rightly  comjjrehended  their  concern  ;  but  as  I  under- 
stand the  subject,  the  committee  in  taking  into  consider- 
ation the  state  oi  the  Ministers  and  Elders  in  this  Yearly 
Meeting,  and  the  duties  that  devolve  upon  them  as  mem- 
bers of  the  Select  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  became 
tenderly  regardful  of  thyself,  knowing  that  thou  hadst 
been  liberated  by  thy  Monthly  Meeting  for  the  purpose  of 
visiting  the  (Quarterly  Meetings,  and  that  thou  hadst  com- 
menced the  fulfilment  oi  thy  prospect.  And  trusting  that 
thou  wilt  kindly  receive  the  manifestations  of  their  ten- 
der regard  for  thy  welfare  and  that  of  the  chuich,  in 
bringing  into  view  in  this  way,  a  portion  of  ancient  Dis- 
cipline to  which  we  doubt  not  thy  own  judgment  and  re- 
ligious experience  will  readily  assent — '  That  ministers 
be  very  tender  of  one  another's  reputation,  neither  giving 
ear  to,  nor  spreading  reports,  tending  to  raise  in  the  minds 
of  others  a  lessening  or  disesteem  of  any  of  the  brother- 
hood. That  by  circumspect  walking  in  all  hohness  of 
life  and  conversation,  they  may  become  living  examples 
of  the  purity  and  excellence  of  the  advices  they  recom- 
mend.' This  advice  was  intended,  no  doubt,  for  all 
practically  to  regard,  and  it  appears  to  have  specially  in 
view  those  traveling  in  the  ministry;  and  I  understand 
the  committee  felt  themselves  constrained  in  Christian 
love  to  bring  this  subject  before  thy  view  at  the  present 
time,  from  a  persuasion  that  in  time  past  there  had  not 
been  that  circumspection  and  care  on  thy  part,  which  are 
the  fruits  of  that  charity  that  is  the  Christian's  ornament, 
and  the  bond  of  our  religious  communion ;  in  that  as 
they  believe  thou  hast  indulged  thyself,  and  countenanc- 
ed in  others,  both  in  conversation  and  writing,  the  saying 
of  many  things  tending  to  close  up  the  way  in  Friends' 
minds  to  the  reception  of  the  labors  of  one  who  Hke  thy- 
self apprehends  that  he  has  a  reUgious  duty  to  discharge, 
and  in  the  order  of  Society  is  endeavoring  to  accomplish 


9 


this  object.  And  I  am  requested  to  add  as  the  united 
concern  of  the  committee,  and  as  their  advice,  that  if 
thou  shouldst  pursue  thy  prospect  of  visiting  the  Quar- 
terly Meetings,  that,  for  thy  own  preservation  and  the 
harmony  and  good  order  of  Society,  thou  wilt  be  careful 
to  refrain  from  introducing  the  subject  to  any  with  whom 
thou  mayst  associate,  and  will  not  open  the  way  for 
others  to  introduce  it.  The  committee  likewise  recom- 
mend thy  omitting  to  take  with  thee  any  of  thy  corres- 
pondence, either  written  or  printed,  relating  to  the  indi- 
vidual alluded  to.  And  the  Committee  were  also  united 
in  prospect  that  thou  wouldst  not  be  traveling  in  that 
unity  of  the  body,  so  essential  to  the  preservation  of 
Christian  fellowship,  until  thou  mayst  give  evidence  of 
thy  intention  to  regard  this  advice.  1  was  likewise  re- 
quested to  bring  into  thy  view  in  a  tender  and  affection- 
ate manner,  the  suspension  for  the  present  of  thy  visit,  if 
it  may  be  done  consistently  with  thy  own  apprehensions 
of  religious  duty. 

I  have  thus  endeavored  to  discharge  the  duties  assigned 
me  according  to  my  understanding,  although  I  am  aware 
of  its  being  far  short  of  producing  that  mutual  interest 
which  a  personal  interview  would  have  produced,  yet  I 
trust  thou  wilt  give  the  subject  referred  to,  due  place  in 
thy  mind,  and  justly  appreciate  the  interest  manifested  by 
the  Committee  for  thy  welfare  and  that  of  the  Church." 

Notwithstanding  the  counsel  thus  offered  him,  he  pro- 
ceeded on  his  journey  ;  and  from  testimonies  which  we 
have  received,  it  appears  that  the  advice  thus  feelingly 
given  and  intended  for  his  own  preservation,  and  the 
good  of  the  Church,  was  disregarded  by  him. 

In  the  5th  month,  1840,  in  consequence  of  deficiences 
in  the  answers  from  subordinate  meetings,  and  "  under  a 
concern  for  the  cause  of  Truth,"  Rhode-Island  Cluarterly 
Meeting  of  Ministers  and  Elders  appointed  a  committee 
"  to  visit  subordinate  meetings  and  individuals  as  way 
may  open  for,  and  occasion  may  require,  and  to  labor  for 
the  restoration  and  preservation  of  harmony  amongst  us." 

The  Committee  thus  appointed,  obtained  an  early  in- 
terview with  John  Wilbur,  and  stated  to  him  the  vari- 
2a 


10 

ous  causes  of  uneasiness  on  his  account.  He  was  re- 
minded of  his  improper  course  in  relation  to  divers 
friends  of  our  own  and  other  Yearly  Meetings,  whom  he 
had  represented  as  unsound  in  religious  faith ;  and  that 
ministers,  elders,  and  other  friends  were  departing  from 
the  ancient  views  of  our  Society  in  relation  to  Baptism, 
the  Supper,  &c.,  producing  in  many  instances  a  totally 
unfounded  prejudice  against  those  friends:  that  he  had 
spoken  of  a  division  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  as  being  a 
probable  result,  soon  to  take  place.  He  did  not  deny 
these  charges,  but  plead  in  justification  the  alledged  un- 
soundness of  certain  writings  of  a  Friend  traveling  as  a 
Minister  amongst  us,  and  offered  a  paper  purporting  to 
contain  extracts  from  these  writings,  to  prove  his  posi- 
tion. To  this  the  committee  entirely  objected,  as  not 
being  the  matter  at  issue ;  doctrines  not  being  at  all  in 
question  ;  but  the  support  of  Christian  order  and  the  Dis- 
cipline of  the  Yearly  Meeting.  When  inquired  of  if  he 
knew  of  an  individual  amongst  us  who  had  imbibed  un- 
sound principles,  he  objected  to  the  question  ;  and  when 
pressed  for  an  answer,  in  consequence  of  his  having  cir- 
culated such  statements,  he  absolutely  declined  to  give  it. 
His  improper  course,  and  the  injurious  effects  resulting 
therefrom  to  various  friends,  and  above  all  to  the  precious 
cause  of  Truth,  were  fully  unfolded  to  him;  but  after  a 
full  conference,  in  which  much  brotherly  admonition  and 
advice  were  bestowed  upon  him,  the  opportunity  termi- 
nated without  the  Committee's  receiving  any  satisfaction 
from  him. 

In  the  4th  month  of  this  year,  (1840,)  a  Minister  from 
a  distant  Yearly  Meeting  traveling  amongst  us  on  a  reli- 
gious visit,  with  his  companion,  put  up  at  John  Wilbur's 
house  in  the  course  of  their  journey,  soon  after  their  ar- 
rival within  our  limits.  To  these  friends  John  Wilbur 
spoke  very  freely  of  many  members  of  Society  among 
whom  they  would  probably  pass  in  pursuance  of  their 


11 


prospect  of  religious  service,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  name 
various  individuals,  ministers  and  others,  designating 
them  as  unsound,  and  warning  these  friends  not  to  go  to 
their  houses  or  to  use  freedom  with  them.  Before  leav- 
ing this  part  of  the  country,  and  soon  after  the  occurrence 
of  the  Quarterly  Meeting,  these  friends  believed  it  to  be 
their  religious  duty  to  call  together  the  Select  Quarterly 
Meeting's  Committee  and  to  inform  them  of  the  commu- 
nications made  to  them  by  John  Wilbur,  in  order  that 
proper  care  might  be  extended  to  him,  as  his  observa- 
tions about  individuals  had  been  very  burdensome  to  them 
and  had  much  tended  to  embarrass  them  in  their  religious 
service.  A  letter  from  the  companion  of  the  friend  above 
alluded  to,  written  after  his  return  home,  to  a  member  of 
the  committee,  will  serve  to  show  something  of  the  na- 
ture of  these  communications.  We  make  from  it  the 
following  extracts : 

"When  we  first  arrived  within  the  limits  of  your 
Yearly  Meeting,  we  fell  in  with  John  Wilbur,  who  kind- 
ly entertained  us  at  his  house,  excepting  that  we  found 
him,  as  both  of  us  thought,  much  soured  against  many 
friends.  He  spoke  freely  of  the  unsoundness  of  a  min- 
ister from  England,  who  was  at  that  time  engaged  in  a 
religious  visit  to  Friends  in  America,  exhibiting  a  long 
list  of  written  charges  against  him.  He  also  told  us  he 
was,  and  would  be  supported  by  your  Yearly  Meeting,  on 
account  of  a  like  unsoundness  in  many  of  its  members. 

"  It  had  been  our  prospect,  cn  entering  the  limits  of 
your  Yearly  Meeting,  to  proceed  early  to  Providence, 
though  nothing  definite  had  been  settled  upon  ;  but  John 
Wilbur  proposed  a  different  route,  in  which  he  said  we 
could  attend  more  Quarterly  Meetings,  and  that  he  would 
accompany  us  as  far  as  Newport.  Wishing  to  attend  as 
many  Quarterly  Meetings  as  we  could,  and  being  depend- 
ent upon  our  friends  for  conveyance,  we  accepted  his  pro- 
posal, and  were  thus  thrown  into  his  company  and  the 
company  of  such  friends  as  he  introduced  us  to,  lor  a 
considerable  time  ;  and  hence  arose  as  thou  knowest,  (and 
not  without  some  grounds,)  a  fear  on  our  account  in  the 


IS 


minds  of  many  of  our  dear  friends  in  your  Yearly  Mt'.et- 
ing,  which  led  me,  and  I  think  I  may  say  us,  on  thy 
kindly  letting  us  know  that  such  was  the  case,  to  believe 
it  necessary  for  the  opening  of  our  way,  if  for  no  other 
cause,  to  let  Friends  know  that  we  did  not  believe  with 
John  Wilbur,  on  many  points,  and  that  we  were  not  in- 
sensible of  the  spirit  which  he  indulged  towards  Friends. 
This,  together  with  the  fact  of  our  knowledge  of  the 
danger  to  which  he  was  exposing  both  himself  and  others, 
may  aci^ount  for  our  divulging  to  thee  and  to  other  friends 
of  a  committee  of  your  Quarterly  Meeting  of  Ministers 
and  Elders,  sentiments  expressed  by  him. 

"  In  addition  to  what  has  been  already  related,  he 
spoke  of  a  controlling  influence  in  your  Yearly  Meeting 
that  was  not  a  religious,  but  a  moneyed  one,  and  that  if 
we  were  not  on  our  guard,  they  would  buy  us — that  they 
had  already  got  T.  and  E.  R.,  from  England.  On  our 
inquiring  about  two  ministers,  who  we  said  were  account- 
ed sound  friends,  and  were  much  beloved  when  in  our 
country,  he  said,  as  nearly  as  I  now  remember,  that  they 
were  once  such,  low,  humble-minded  friends,  but  that 
they  had  now  got  to  Providence,  and  were  bought  over 
to  the  same  influence.  He  also  said  something  about 
their  aged  parent  being  distressed  about  them.  He  told 
us  too  of  a  friend  of  New-Hampshire  being  bought  over, 
telling  the  particulars,  but  I  cannot  now  remember  them. 
He  spoke  freely  and  unreservedly  of  a  division  in  your 
Yearly  Meeting,  which  he  believed  must  and  would  take 
place.  I  remember  that  on  my  saying  that  I  did  not  think 
it  would,  he  remarked  I  was  as  one  of  Job's  comfort- 
ers, for  you  could  not  live  as  you  were.  He  appeared  to 
me  to  be  looking  to  no  other  alternative  than  a  division, 
for  an  improvement  in  your  condition.  I  have  but  little 
doubt  that  to  nearly  all  the  foregoing  facts,  there  are  many 
friends  in  your  parts  that  could,  if  they  would,  bear  am- 
ple testimony." 

About  three  weeks  after  the  interview  of  the  Select 
Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  with  John  Wilbur,  a 
member  of  the  committee  received  a  long  and  in  some 
points  very  objectionable  letter  from  him,  in  which  he 
implies  that  the  committee  were  treating  with  him  for 
supporting   sound  doctrines,  and  that  they  themselves 


48 


were  upholding  doctrines  which  were  unsound.  The 
premises  taken  in  this  letter,  and  the  conclusions  dedu- 
ced therefrom,  were  objected  to  by  every  member  of  the 
committee  present  at  the  interview,  as  uncandid  and  un- 
just ;  and  in  divers  respects  untrue  in  points  of  fact. 
This  letter  now  became  an  additional  cause  of  concern 
to  the  committee,  and  during  the  time  of  our  Yearly 
Meeting  in  the  6th  mo.  following,  several  long  opportuni- 
ties of  conference  were  had  with  him,  without  his  ren- 
dering Friends  any  satisfaction.  In  the  8th  mo.  1840, 
another  interview  took  place,  which  was  extended  to  great 
length,  most  members  of  the  committee  being  present, 
and  all  united  in  sentiment,  who  imparted  much  affec- 
tionate advice,  without  inducing  any  favorable  result, 
there  being  a  determination  manifested  by  him  to  defend 
himself  in  his  course,  and  to  condemn  all  those  who 
questioned  its  correctness ;  and  the  interview  closed, 
leaving  an  impression  of  regret  and  sorrow  on  the  minds 
of  the  committee.  In  the  11th  mo.  he  was  again  unavail- 
ingly  labored  with  by  the  committee  at  large,  and  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  interview,  a  few  friends  were  requested 
again  to  see  him,  who  accordingly  visited  him  in  the  12th 
mo.,  and  had  an  opportunity  with  him  in  presence  of  the 
select  members  of  his  particular  meeting  ;  but  he  con- 
tinued to  justify  himself  and  to  condemn  Friends. 

In  the  2d  mo.  following,  the  committee  again  attempt- 
ed unavailingly  to  produce  a  change  in  his  mind,  and  to 
induce  him  to  give  Friends  satisfaction. 

The  labors  of  the  committee  appointed  by  the  Quar- 
terly Meeting  of  Ministers  and  Elders  failing  to  produce 
the  desired  result,  they  believed  it  right  to  submit  the 
case  to  a  committee  then  under  appointment  by  the  Year- 
ly Meeting,  for  purposes  specified  in  the  following  minute 
of  their  appointment  : 

At  our  Yearly  Meeting  of  Friends  for  New  England, 
held  on  Rhode-Island  in  the  6th  mo.,  1840,  the  joint 


14 


committee  of  men  and  women  Friends  appointed  to  visit 
subordinate  meetings  and  individuals  as  way  might  open 
for,  and  circumstances  in  their  judgment  require,  made 
report  of  their  attention  to  that  service  during  the  past 
year,  and  proposed  the  appointment  of  a  similar  commit- 
tee at  the  present  time,  which  being  deliberately  consid- 
ered, was  united  with ;  and  at  a  subsequent  sitting,  the 
following  friends  being  named  for  that  service,  were  ap- 
pointed to  extend  a  general  care  on  its  behalf,  for  the 
maintenance  of  our  Christian  principles  and  testimonies, 
and  the  preservation  of  love  and  unity  among  our  mem- 
bers ;  and  in  that  ability  which  may  be  afforded  them,  to 
assist  and  advise  such  meetings  and  members  as  circum- 
stances may  require  and  way  open  for,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  best  wisdom :  and  they  were  requested  to  report 
to  this  meeting  next  year." 

Accordingly  a  number  of  this  committee  had  an  inter- 
view with  John  Wilbur,  at  East  Greenwich,  the  4th  of 
5th  mo.,  1841.  They  were  fully  united  in  sentiment  as 
to  the  impropriety  of  the  course  pursued  by  him  in  the 
several  particulars  brought  to  their  notice  by  the  commit- 
tee of  the  Select  (Quarterly  Meeting,  and  they  laboured 
faithfully  and  affectionately  to  convince  him  of  his  errors, 
and  to  endeavor  to  induce  him  to  give  Friends  satisfac- 
tion. The  interview  was  long  continued,  and  was  again 
renewed  next  morning,  without  producing  any  sensible 
change  inliis  feelings,  or  at  all  reconciling  him  to  Friends. 

He  contended  for  the  propriety  of  his  course  on  ac- 
count of  alleged  unsoundness  in  some  of  the  writings  of 
the  Minister  from  England  ;  while  the  Committee  wholly 
denied  this  to  be  the  point  at  issue  ;  these  primed  writ- 
ings not  being  at  all  involved  in  the  case,  but  the  simple 
question  being  whether  John  Wilbur  could  with  impuni- 
ty violate  our  Discipline  and  the  Christian  order  of  our 
religious  Society.  They  stated,  among  other  things,  that 
the  friend  alluded  to,  would,  while  among  us,  as  any  one 
of  our  own  members,  be  held  answerable  to,  and  be 
judged  by  our  Discipline,  for  whatever  he  should  ad- 


15 


vance.  That  any  action  attempted  by  us,  for  acts  com- 
mitted, or  sentiments  advanced,  prior  to  the  date  of  his 
certificates,  would  be  a  virtual  transgression  of  that  safe 
rule  of  our  society  at  large,  which  considers  members 
every  where,  for  their  conduct  while  at  home,  amenabla 
to  the  meetings  to  which  they  belong.  This  rule  ap- 
pears by  the  general  consent  of  all  the  Yearly  Meetings 
to  have  been  heretofore  carefully  respected.  It  necessa- 
rily supposes  but  one  and  the  same  qualification  through- 
out the  Society  for  the  exercise  of  Christian  care  over  its 
members  ;  and  consequently  any  act  which  should  reach 
within  the  hmits  of  another  Yearly  Meeting,  intended  to 
arraign  one  or  more  of  its  members  for  any  alleged  error 
of  earlier  date  than  that  of  the  certificates  they  may 
bring,  must  be  viewed  as  a  breach  of  the  established  or- 
der amongst  us.  Such  a  course  would  be  to  judge  not  of 
the  individual  only,  but  of  the  meetings  that  granted  the 
certificates.  If  this  order  should  be  departed  from,  no 
one,  in  a  case  of  real  or  imputed  error,  could  know  the 
extent  of  his  liability,  or  the  conclusion  of  the  Society, 
till  judged,  severally,  by  every  branch  of  our  church. 

During  thismterview,  he  stated  that  in  his  letter  to  a 
member  of  the  Select  (Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee, 
he  did  not  intend  to  charge  the  Committee  with  holding 
unsound  doctrines  ;  and  being  inquired  of  whether  he 
was  willing  to  say  further  that  he  did  not  intend  to  make 
any  reflections  upon  them  injurious  to  their  standing  in 
society,  he  requested  them  to  commit  to  paper  what  they 
wished  him  to  state. 

The  Committee  adjourned  to  meet  again  the  following 
morning,  and  in  the  recess  the  subjoined  paper  was  pre- 
pared, with  a  hope  that  John  Wilbur  might  be  convinced 
of  the  propriety  of  signing  it,  so  as  to  remove  so  far  as  he 
could  now  do  it,  the  unjust  charges  and  insinuations 
brought  by  him  against  the  Select  Quarterly  Meeting's 
Committee. 


16 


Feelings  of  uneasiness  having  rested  on  the  minds  of 
the  Select  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee,  in  conse- 
quence of  some  expressions  contained  in  a  letter  written 
by  me  to  one  of  their  number  under  date  of  5th  month, 
SOth,  1840,  from  an  apprehension  that  I  meant  therein 
to  charge  the  members  of  that  Committee  with  holding 
unsound  doctrines,  I  feel  willing  to  relieve  their  minds 
from  such  apprehension  by  now  saying  that  it  was  not 
my  intention  to  be  so  understood.  And  further  I  am 
willing  to  say  that  I  regret  that  any  thing  was  so  un- 
guardedly expressed  in  said  letter  as  to  bear  the  construc- 
tion that  I  meant  to  reflect  upon  said  Committee  to  the 
prejudice  of  their  standing  in  society.  And  having  in 
said  letter  attributed  to  that  committee  expressions  that 
they  do  not  own  as  having  been  made  by  them,  I  am  wil- 
ling to  believe  that  I  misunderstood  the  sentiments  they 
meant  to  convey  ;  and  consequently  to  withdraw  such 
charges." 

On  presenting  this  essay  to  him,  although  as  the  com- 
mittee thought  it  was  so  worded  that  he  could  hardly 
fail  to  receive  it,  especially  as  he  proposed  at  the  previous 
interview  that  a  paper  of  this  purport  should  be  prepared, 
he  declined  to  sign  it,  and  the  interview  ended.  On  the 
13th  of  6th  month,  the  committee  again  met  at  Newport, 
agreeably  to  their  adjournment,  twenty-seven  members 
being  present.  A  long  conference  was  again  held  with 
him,  resulting  as  heretofore.  A  few  friends  were  separ- 
ated, aff'ectionately  and  earnestly  to  labour  with  him,  and 
the  committee  adjourned  to  the  15th  inst.  At  this  ad- 
journed meeting,  John  Wilbur  was  not  present,  and  the 
friends  who  had  by  request  had  an  interview  with  him  in 
the  recess  of  the  meetings,  now  reported  that  they  had 
not  been  able  to  induce  him  to  give  Friends  satisfaction, 
but  that  they  thought  the  case  nearly  hopeless. 

The  Yearly  Meeting  at  this  time  being  apprehensive 
that  the  existing  state  of  things  in  the  Society  still  de- 
manded an  extension  of  care  from  them,  continued  their 
committee,  with  a  similar  minute  to  that  made  in  their 
appointment  last  year.    The  committee  thus  appointed. 


17 


met  on  the  17th,  and  named  four  friends  to  have  an  in- 
terview with  John  Wilbur,  and  adjourned  to  the  next 
morning.  On  the  18th,  they  met  according  to  adjourn- 
ment, 25  members  being  present. 

The  original  cause  of  concern  on  the  part  of  Friends 
with  him  was  again  stated  ;  his  letter  to  a  member  of  the 
Select  (Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  was  read,  and  also 
part  of  a  letter  from  him  dated  3d  mo.  11th,  1841,  to 
a  young  friend  in  Dover  Quarterly  Meeting,  calling  upon 
certain  friends  to  give  him  the  state  of  things  in  that 
quarter.  John  Wilbur  being  present,  was  called  upon  to 
reply  to  the  case,  if  he  saw  fit ;  upon  which  he  made 
some  remarks,  but  not  to  much  extent,  saying  he  wanted 
the  charges  in  writing,  ifcc.  During  this  meeting,  much 
tender  brotherly  counsel  and  advice,  by  several  of  the 
committee,  was  bestowed,  in  order  for  his  restoration  to 
the  unity  and  harmony  of  friends.  On  leaving  the  com- 
mittee, he  said  he  was  wiUing  they  should  proceed  in  the 
case  in  the  manner  they  thought  best,  and  remarked  as  he 
departed  from  the  room,  "  Friends,  do  as  you  please,  I 
have  no  concessions  to  make." 

Subsequent  to  this  time,  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittee frequently  met  and  solidly  considered  this  sorrow- 
fid  case,  that  had  produced  so  much  uneasiness,  and  in 
relation  to  which  so  much  patient  but  ineffectual  labor 
had  been  bestowed  ;  and  two  of  the  committee  were  en- 
couraged to  visit  him  again  at  his  own  house,  and  make 
another  effort  to  convice  him  of  his  departures  from  right 
order  and  discipline,  and  to  persuade  him  to  return  and 
be  reconciled  to  Friends.  They  accordingly  waited  upon 
him  and  spent  the  night  under  his  roof,  and  with  great 
tenderness  and  brotherly  regard,  entreated  him  to  turn 
from  his  course  and  make  those  concessions  which  the 
cause  of  truth  required.  But  to  this  he  turned  a  deaf  ear 
and  refused  to  give  any  satisfaction. 

At  the  close  of  South-Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting,  in 
3  a 


1^ 

11th  mo.,  1841,  John  Wilbur  called  together  the  select 
members,  and  after  stating  some  instances  of  what  he 
considered  encroachments  on  the  privileges  of  Monthly 
Meetings,  and  individuals,  all  of  which  had  reference  to 
his  own  case,  he  desired  that  the  select  members  might 
take  a  firm  stand  against  the  measures  of  the  Quarterly 
Meeting.  The  proposition  being  disapproved,  was  aban- 
doned. 

It  now  appearing  fully  evident  that  any  attempt  at 
further  labor  would  be  unavailing,  on  the  23d  of  the  4th 
mo.,  1842,  the  following  statement  of  the  case  was  pre- 
pared and  signed  by  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee, 
and  presented  to  South-Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting, 
viz  : 

"  We  the  Committee  appointed  by  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing to  extend  a  general  care  on  its  behalf  'for  the  main- 
tenance of  our  Christian  principles  and  testimonies,  and  the 
preservation  of  love  and  unity  among  our  members,  and 
in  that  ability  that  may  be  afforded  us,  to  assist  and  ad- 
vise such  meetings  and  members  as  circumstances  may 
require  and  way  open  for,  under  the  direction  of  best 
Wisdom,'  having  had  our  minds  introduced  into  deep 
concern  and  exercise  on  account  of  the  course  pursued 
for  some  time  past  by  John  Wilbur,  a  member  of  South- 
Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting,  in  the  station  of  a  Minister, 
believe  that  the  time  has  now  come  for  us  to  state  some 
of  the  particulars  wherein  he  has  departed  from  the  good 
order  of  our  religious  Society,  in  the  disregard  of  our 
Christian  Discipline. 

"  He  has  circulated  an  anonymous  pamphlet  which 
impeached  the  character  of  our  Society,  and  in  which 
some  of  its  important  doctrines,  as  exemplified  in  the  re- 
ligious engagements  of  some  of  its  faithful  ministers,  are 
reproachfully  held  up  to  view ;  and  which  purports  to 
contain  the  proceedings  of  London  Yearly  Meeting  of 
Ministers  and  Elders,  with  the  sentiments  of  divers  friends 
therein  named,  when  the  subject  of  liberating  a  minister 
to  visit  this  country  was  before  that  meeting  ;  the  object 
of  which,  together  with  sundry  letters  which  he  has  cir- 
culated, appears  to  he,  to  induce  the  belief  that  the  con- 


19 


cern  did  not  receive  the  unity  of  the  meeting,  and  that 
the  clerk  did  not  act  in  conformity  with  the  true  sense 
and  judgment  of  the  meeting,  in  signing  the  certificate  ; 
thus  endeavoring  to  invalidate  both  the  proceedings  and 
conclusions  of  a  meeting  in  unity  with  this  Yearly  Meet- 
ing, and  whose  certificate  on  behalf  of  the  same  friend 
was  received  and  united  with  as  entered  on  our  records. 
And  while  the  friend  was  in  this  country  and  engaged  in 
the  discharge  of  his  apprehended  religious  duty,  with  full 
certificates  of  unity  from  the  Monthly  and  Q^uarterly 
Meetings  of  which  he  is  a  member,  and  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing of  Ministers  and  Elders  of  London,  and  which  were 
duly  presented,  received  and  accredited  in  all  the  Yearly 
Meetings  in  this  country,  except  one  which  he  did  not 
attend ; — and  thus  was  he  at  liberty  for  religious  service 
within  their  limits,  in  the  full  and  acknowledged  charac- 
ter of  an  approved  and  authenticated  minister  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Friends, — John  Wilbur,  for  want  as  we  believe 
of  an  humble  abiding  in  the  Truth,  has  circulated  divers 
letters,  one  or  more  of  which  appears  to  have  been  writ- 
ten in  England,  and  others  originating  with  himself,  ad- 
dressed to  different  friends  in  this  country,  which  were 
intended  to  shew  that  the  minister  thus  liberated  for  reli- 
gious service,  was  not  in  unity  with  his  friends  at  home, 
contrary  to  the  long  established  order  of  our  religious  So- 
ciety, and  designed  to  close  his  way  in  the  minds  of 
Friends.  And  we  also  believe,  for  want  of  maintaining 
his  integrity  in  that  dependence  upon  the  Holy  Spirit, 
which  would  have  preserved  him  in  unity  with  Friends, 
he  has  indulged  in  a  spirit  of  detraction,  in  speaking  and 
writing,  by  which  the  religious  character  of  divers  friends 
in  our  own  and  other  Yearly  Meetings  has  been  much 
misrepresented.  Many  friends  were  introduced  into  deep 
concern  on  his  account,  and  several  of  them  treated  with 
him  in  tenderness  and  love  in  relation  to  it ;  but  without 
producing  any  apparent  change  in  his  mind  ;  and  there 
having  been  a  committee  appointed  by  Rhode-Island 
Quarterly  Meeting  of  Ministers  and  Elders,  in  the  5th 
mo.,  1840,  of  which  body  he  was  a  member,  on  account 
of  existing  deficiencies,  as  manifested  by  the  answers  to 
the  queries,  and  under  a  concern  for  the  cause  of  Truth  ; 
and  they  having  been  made  acquainted  with  John  Wil- 
bur's course  as  last  above  stated,  and  he  having  made  di- 


20 


vers  assertions  tending  to  induce  dissatisfaction  among 
Friends,  and  with  the  proceedings  of  our  Yearly  Meet- 
ing in  various  particulars^  and  calculated  to  produce  divis- 
ions therein  ;  and  also  to  disturb  the  unity  of  different 
Yearly  Meetings,  and  to  alienate  the  feelings  of  their 
members  from  each  other  ;  sought  an  opportunity  with 
him,  in  which  they  endeavored  to  show  him  the  effects 
of  his  proceedings,  both  upon  himself  and  others  ;  but  he, 
so  far  from  receiving  these  labors  of  love  in  the  spirit  in 
which  they  were  administered,  soon  after  wrote  a  letter  to 
one  of  the  committee,  in  which  he  made  unjust  insinua- 
tions, and  preferred  charges  against  them  which  they 
deny  in  points  of  fact.  They  nevertheless  continued 
their  care  and  labor,  but  his  mind  appearing  closed  against 
their  advice,  in  the  5th  mo.,  1841,  we  at  their  request 
believed  it  to  be  our  duty  to  extend  care  in  his  case.  And 
it  is  with  deep  regret  and  sorrow,  we  have  observed  the 
effect  his  course  of  couJuct  has  produced  in  lessening  that 
regard  for  tlie  wholesome  restraints  of  the  Discipline,  and 
for  the  labor  of  faithful  friends  for  the  preservation  of  that 
good  order,  love  and  unity  which  are  essential  to  the  peace 
and  welfare  of  the  body. 

We  have  had  repeated  opportunities  with  him  in  which 
we  have  labored  to  convince  him  of  his  errors ;  but  this 
desirable  object  not  having  been  accomplished,  and  after 
having  waited  several  months  to  afford  him  opportunity 
to  make  satisfaction  for  his  deviations,  and  two  of  the 
committee  having  unavailingly  visited  Iiim  at  his  own 
house,  and  there  not  appearing  that  change  in  his  mind, 
which  is  necessary  to  his  being  restored  to  the  unity  of 
Friendh^  we  now  believe  it  incumbent  upon  us  in  dis- 
charge of  the  service  confided  to  us  by  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing, to  recommend  his  case  to  the  immediate  notice  and 
care  of  South-Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting."* 


■*  The  Discipline  of  our  Yearly  Meeting  provides  no  specific  mode  of 
bringing  the  case  of  offenders  before  our  Monthly  Meetings.  The  more 
general  practice  of  Friends  with  us,  is  that  complaints  come  to  the 
Monthly  Meetings  from  the  overseers,  either  through  the  Preparative 
Meetings  or  otherwise.  But  the  support  of  good  order  and  discipline, 
from  the  existing  state  of  things  in  different  meetings,  has  rendered  a 
departure  from  this  course  necessary  in  divers  instances,  both  in  early 
and  later  time,  as  fully  appears  from  the  Records  of  various  meetings. 


21 


The  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  having  in  full  unity 
adopted  the  foregoing  document,  appointed  several  of  their 
number  to  attend  South-Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting,  to 
be  held  on  the  25ih  of  the  4th  mo.,  and  lay  the  same  be- 
fore that  meeting  :  to  which  service  they  attended  and 
presented  the  communication  to  said  meeting,  which  was 
read  and  directed  to  be  recorded  ;  and  a  committee  of 
four  friends  was  appointed  to  visit  John  Wilbur  on  the 
occasion.  When  the  above  communication  was  read  in 
the  meeting,  it  appeared  he  did  not  expect  it  would  be  en- 
tered upon  the  records,  and  he  manifested  much  objection 
to  it,  notwithstanding  he  remarked,  "I  am  glad  it  has 
come  here,  it  has  long  been  a  suffering  case,  and  now  I  shall 
be  tried  by  my  friends.'''  The  friend  who  was  now 
clerk  of  the  meeting,  a  Avorthy  elder  in  Society,  it  was 
believed  vrould  act  impartially  in  the  ca.se.  At  the  next 
Monthly  Meeting,  it  being  their  usual  time  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  clerk,  and  the  usage  of  that  meeting  being, 
for  the  representatives  from  the  Preparative  Meetings  to 
propose  the  name  of  a  clerk  to  the  meeting,  they  met,  but 
could  not  agree  upon  a  name :  a  part  of  them  being  in 
favor  of  the  re-appointment  of  the  old  Clerk,  ^vA  the 
others  for  substituting  a  person  in  his  place  who, 
in  divers  respects,  was  considered  unsuitable  for  the  sta- 
tion. The  meeting  was  informed  that  the  representatives 
could  not  agree  upon  a  clerk,  and  it  was  proposed  by  those 
in  favor  of  sustaining  the  order  of  Society,  that  the  sub- 
ject should  be  deferred  one  month  ;  while  on  the  other 
hand  violent  opposition  was  made  to  this  course,  and  an- 
other person  proposed  as  clerk,  whose  name  had  not  been 
under  consideration  by  the  representatives,  when  together 
for  that  service.  Much  tumult  and  disorder  ensued;  many 
taking  an  active  part  in  producing  it,  vvho  were  not  in 
the  practise  of  regularly  attending  meetings  for  discipline, 
nor  careful  in  the  support  of  our  Christian  testimonies. 
After  a  scene  of  great  disorder,  which  was  continued  for 


22 


a  long  time,  the  clerk,  after  bearing  his  testimony  against 
their  proceedings,  withdrew  from  the  table  without  making 
any  minute  in  the  case  ;  and  the  individual  who  had  thus 
been  proposed  out  of  the  established  practice  of  that 
meeting,  assumed  the  place,  and  made  a  minute  appoint- 
ing himself  as  clerk  for  the  ensuing  year.  Thus  was  a 
person  placed  at  the  table  in  an  irregular  manner,  and  con- 
trary to  the  judgment  of  many  well  concerned  and  con- 
sistent friends.  The  next  irregular  step  was  to  make  an 
addition  to  the  committee  appointed  the  previous  month 
in  the  case  of  John  Wilbur.  Five  persons  were  added  to 
the  committee  ;  four  of  whom  were  his  family  connex- 
ions, and  all  of  them  it  was  believed,  very  much  under  his 
influence.  As  an  evidence  of  the  arrangement  made  out 
of  meeting,  in  relation  to  the  appointment  of  this  addi- 
tion to  the  Committee,  it  may  be  mentioned,  that  when  a 
friend  was  named,  who  it  was  believed  would  act  with 
impartiality,  a  son-in-law  of  John  Wilbur  objected  to  his 
name,  alleging  as  a  reason,  that  he  was  requested  by  John 
Wilbur  to  do  so,  should  he  be  nominated  ;  and  the  acting 
clerk  accordingly  refused  to  take  his  name. 

In  the  6th  mo.  1842,  the  Yearly  Meeting  again  appoint- 
ed a  Committee  to  act  on  its  behalf,  with  the  same  con- 
cern in  view  as  heretofore.  At  a  meeting  of  this  Commit- 
tee at  Newport  the  17th  of  6th  mo.  1842,  twenty-three 
members  being  present,  they  were  united  in  advising 
Timothy  C.  Collins,  the  former  Clerk,  not  to  give  up  the 
books  and  papers  of  South-Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting, 
but  to  keep  them  safely,  as  the  proceedings  of  that  meet- 
ing in  the  appointment  of  Clerk  had  not  been  regular. 

On  the  27th  of  6th  mo.  a  number  of  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing's  Committee  again  attended  South-Kingstown  Month- 
ly Meeting.  The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  minutes 
made  on  the  occasion  : 

"  Most  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Monthly  Meeting  were 


23 


conducted  in  a  very  exceptionable  manner ;  and  on  the 
part  of  some  of  its  members  disorderly  in  no  small  de- 
gree, and  the  Committee  became  apprehensive  that  the 
members  who  constitute  this  meeting  in  their  present  dis- 
jointed and  unsettled  state,  are  not  in  a  situation  to  hold  a 
Monthly  Meeting  to  the  honor  and  reputation  of  society. 
And  finding  as  we  did  that  they  had  at  their  priivious 
Monthly  Meeting  displaced  the  Clerk  in  an  unusual  and 
abrupt  manner,  and  appointed  another  to  that  office  as  be- 
fore stated,  all  of  which  was  against  the  judgment  and 
wishes  of  the  solid  portion  of  the  members  ;  we,  therefore, 
with  a  view  to  the  promotion  of  unity  and  harmony 
among  them,  believed  it  right  to  advise  the  meeting  to  re- 
instate the  former  Clerk,  and  the  present  one  to  withdraw 
from  the  table.  This  advice  and  proposal  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  members  objected  to,  and  refused  to  com- 
ply with,  and  manifested  great  disrespect  towards  the 
Committee,  by  many  unkind  expressions  and  insinuations. 
We  were  likewise  informed  that  at  their  last  meeting  they 
made  an  addition  of  five  to  the  committee  appointed  in 
the  4th  mo.  last,  in  the  case  of  John  Wilbur ;  which  ad- 
dition or  appointment,  with  its  attendant  unjustifiable  cir- 
cumstances, was  cause  of  regret  to  the  rightly  exercised 
members  of  the  meeting,  and  we  think  is  evidently  cal- 
culated to  embarrass,  if  not  entirely  defeat  any  just  de- 
cision in  that  case.  In  taking  a  view  of  the  state  and 
condition  of  that  meeting,  and  the  transactions  here  de- 
tailed, we  are  induced  to  believe  that  what  has  already 
transpired,  is  only  the  precursor  of  a  still  greater  depar- 
ture from  good  order  and  the  truth,  even  to  open  revolt. 

"  It  seems  proper  further  to  note  that  the  becoming 
moderation  and  christian  meekness  evinced  by  the  rightly 
exercised  part  of  the  meeting,  afforded  us  the  comfortable 
assurance  that  the  true  seed,  although  oppressed  and  borne 
down,  is  far  from  being  extinct. 

On  the  11th  of  the  7th  mo.  following,  six  of  the  Year- 
ly Meeting's  Committee  met  those  appointed  by  South- 
Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting  in  the  case  of  John  Wilbur 
and  proceeded  to  lay  before  them  full  documentary  evi- 
dence to  establish  each  point  contained  in  the  communi- 
cation addressed  to  the  Monthly  Meeting  against  him. 
After   going   through   with  which,  he  in  his  defence 


24 


brought  before  the  committee  what  purported  to  be  ex- 
tracts from  the  writings  of  the  friend  from  England,  to- 
wards whom  he  had  manifested  his  opposition.  To  this 
they  objected  as  being  wholly  irrelevant  to  the  case  ;  the 
complaint  against  him  being  for  a  violation  of  the  order 
and  discipline  of  the  Society  ;  and  upon  its  being  finally 
decided  by  most  of  the  Monthly  Meeting's  Committee^  to 
allow  him  to  take  what  course  he  chose  in  jushfication  of 
himself,  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  presented  them 
with  the  following  written  memorandum,  and  withdrew, 
viz.:  "As  you  have  decided  not  to  confine  the  investiga- 
tion to  the  charges  submitted  in  the  document  presented 
to  the  Monthly  Meeting  ;  but  allow  the  subject  of  doc- 
trines to  be  introduced  in  justification  of  the  charges ;  we 
must  decline  remaining  any  longer  present  with  the  Com- 
mittee." 

0.1  the  25th  of  7th  mo.,  several  of  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing's Committee  attended  South-Kingstown  Pt'Ionthly 
Meeting.  It  was  very  apparent  that  those  who  attempted 
to  control  the  proceedings  of  the  meeting,  through  the 
assitance  of  their  clerk,  who  was  irregularly  and  improp- 
erly appointed,  were  not  qualified  to  conduct  the  affairs  of 
the  Church  :  being  apparently  deficient  in  a  religious 
sense  of  the  weight  and  importance  of  the  work. 

After  this  meeting,  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee 
presented  the  following  communication  to  Rhode-Island 
Quarterly  Meeting,  held  the  4th  of  8th  month,  1842. 

"To  Rhode-Island  Quarterly  Meeting: 

"  A  number  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  hav- 
ing several  times  recently  attended  South-Kingstown 
Monthly  Meeting,  have  become  satisfied,  that  from  the 
want  of  love  and  unity,  and  from  the  spirit  of  insubor- 
dination manifest  amongst  them,  in  the  management  of 
the  concerns  of  Society,  they  are  not  in  a  suitable  state 
to  conduct  the  affairs  of  the  Church  to  the  honour  of 


25 


Truth  :  and  we  are  united  in  judgment  that  the  imme- 
diate care  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting  needs  to  be  extended 
in  the  case.    7th  mo.  25th,  1842." 

The  subject  being  thus  brought  before  the  (Quarterly 
Meeting,  and  the  answers  to  the  queries  from  South- 
Kingstown,  and  also  from  Swanzey  Monthly  Meeting, 
manifesting  great  deficiencies,  a  committee  was  appointed 
and  the  following  minute  ma^e  in  the  case,  viz  : 

"  At  Rhode-Island  Quarterly  Meeting,  held  at  Ports- 
mouth, the  4th  of  8th  mo.,  1842,  the  following  communi- 
cation from  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  was  received 
at  rhis  time.  And  it  appearing  by  the  answers  to  the 
queries  that  there  is  a  want  of  that  love  and  unity  which 
are  essential  to  the  best  interests  of  the  body,  both  in 
South-Kingstown  and  Swanzey  Monthly  Meetings;  the 
whole  subject  received  our  deliberate  and  solid  considera- 
tion, and  we  appoint  the  following  friends  to  visit  those 
meetings  and  labor  in  conjunction  with  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing's Committee,  for  the  preservation  of  right  order  and 
the  promotion  of  love  and  unity ;  and  they  are  requested 
to  act  in  our  behalf  in  rendering  such  advice  and  assist- 
ance to  said  meetings  and  individuals  as  best  Wisdom 
may  direct,  and  report  to  our  next  meeting." 

On  the  22d  of  the  8th  mo.,  1842,  a  number  of  the 
Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  in  conjunction  with  the 
Committee  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting,  agnin  attended 
South-Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting.  The  following  ex- 
tract from  the  minutes  of  the  first  named  committee, 
gives  an  account  of  their  proceedings,  viz  : 

"  When  the  opening  minute,  and  the  minute  of  the 
Quarterly  Meeting,  making  the  appointment  of  a  com- 
mittee, were  read,  a  report  from  the  committee  in  John 
Wilbur's  case  was  called  for  by  a  member  ;  which  was 
immediately  presented  and  read.  It  was  signed  by  seven 
members,  and  stated  in  substance,  that  they  had  heard 
the  Yearly  Meeting's  Commitfee  and  John  Wilbur,  and 
that  tfiey  were  of  the  jadgmerjt  that  the  evidence  addu- 
ced did  not  support  the  charges  ;  and  it  ended  in  recom- 
mending the  dismissal  of  the  complaint  against  him. 

A  report  was  also  presented  signed  bv  two  of  the 
4a 


26 


committeej  stating,  snbstantiall/j  that  they  considered  all 
the  charges  fully  verified,  and  that  they  differed  entirely 
in  judgment  from  the  other  members  of  the  committee, 
&c.  This  report  they  refused  for  a  considerable  time  to 
read.  In  favor  of  the  reading,  it  was  stated,  that  they 
being  a  part  of  the  committee,  had  a  right  to  be  heard  as 
to  their  judgment  in  the  case,  as  that  would  give  the 
meeting  an  understanding  of  the  whole  matter  as  viewed 
by  all  the  Committee.  They  at  length  yielded,  and  after 
it  was  read,  they  urged  the  reception  of  the  report  signed 
by  the  seven  ;  and  it  appeared  that  those  who  were  in 
favor  of  receiving  it,  were  nearly  all  of  them  John  Wil- 
bur's near  relatives : — among  them  were  one  son,  four 
sons-in-law,  and  a  number  of  his  connexions  more  re- 
mote ;  there  being  only  one  or  two  who  were  unconnect- 
ed either  by  consanguinity  or  affinity.  It  therefore  ap- 
peared, as  far  as  the  preparing  of  the  report  and  advoca- 
ting its  reception  were  concerned,  to  be  almost  entirely  a 
family  matter. 

The  committee  held  up  to  their  view  the  serious  con- 
sequences of  the  course  they  were  pursuing,  in  attempt- 
ing thus  to  restore  him,  as  it  would  be  done  without  his 
making  any  concession,  and  he  thereby  would  be  left  a 
member  while  he  was  out  of  unity  with  the  great  body 
of  Friends.  To  obviate  which,  it  was  proposed  that  the 
case  be  deferred  one  month,  to  give  the  committee  an  op- 
portunity of  further  labor  with  him  to  produce,  if  it 
might  be,  a  reconciliation  with  friends,  that  his  restoration 
might  be  in  the  harmony  and  unity  of  Society.  This 
was  also  the  united  advice  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting's 
Committee  to  the  Monthly  Meeting.  This  course  was 
earnestly  opposed  ;  some  saying  they  were  aware  of  the 
authority  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting  to  give  them  advice, 
but  as  the  Monthly  Meeting  had  a  right  to  act  indepen- 
dently according  to  their  own  judgment,  they  might  re- 
ceive or  reject  it,  as  they  thought  proper  :  if  they  had  no 
independence  of  action,  it  was  not  advice,  but  a  mere 
mandate.  Thus  they  continued  to  set  at  nought  and  en- 
tirely reject  the  counsel  and  advice  administered  to  them, 
by  both  Committees  then  present ;  and  finally  a  minute 
was  made  accepting  the  report  of  the  Committee  of 
seven,  restoring  John  Wilbur  to  membership,  contrary  to 


27 


the  expressed  sense  and  judgment  of  divers  well  concern- 
ed and  consistent  members  of  that  meeting."* 

T'lid  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  again  attended 
South-Kiijgstown  Monthly  Meeting,  the  24th  of  10th 
mo.,  1842,  and  presented  to  it  the  following  communica- 
tion, viz : 

"  The  Committee  appointed  by  the  (Quarterly  Meeting 
to  visit  South-Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting,  and  for 
other  services,  now  believe  it  right  to  state  to  South- 
Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting,  that  having  taken  into  our 
deliberate  consideration  the  proceedings  of  that  meeting 
in  the  eighth  month  last,  and  other  proceedings  connected 
with  it,  which  have  had  the  effect  to  produce  the  present 
unhappy  differences  existing  in  that  meeting,  and  the 
state  of  insubordination  in  which  it  now  is,  have  come 
to  the  conclusion,  that  the  placing  of  Samuel  Sheffield 
at  the  table,  to  act  as  Clerk,  in  the  fifth  month  last,  in 
the  irregular  and  disorderly  manner  in  which  it  was  ef- 
fected ;  and  by  which  procedure  the  feelings  and  views 
of  many  of  the  members  were  wholly  disregarded  ;  and 
being  satisfied  that  he  took  his  seat  at  the  table  and  made 
the  minute  appointing  himself,  out  of  the  usual  and  long 
established  order  of  South-Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting 
in  appointing  their  Clerk:  We  do  therefore  unite  with 
the  advice  previously  given  to  Timothy  C.  Collins,  by 
the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  that  he  should  continue 
for  the  present  to  retain  the  records  of  that  meetmg. 
And  as  this  committee  were  also  fully  united  in  the  ad- 
vice given  in  the  eighth  month  last  to  South-Kingstown 
Monthly  Meeting,  not  to  accept  the  report  in  the  case  of 
John  Wilbur,  presented  by  that  portion  of  the  committee, 
five  of  whom  were  added  contrary  to  the  general  usage 
of  our  Society,  to  the  committee  appointed  in  the  fourth 
month  to  have  charge  of  the  case,  after  Samuel  Sheffield 
took  his  seat  at  the  table  in  the  fifth  month :  and  as  we 
have  cause  to  apprehend,  from  the  manner  in  which  they 


*  Two  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  present  at  this  time,  have 
been  charged  with  attempting  to  break  up  the  meeting,  while  the  report 
in  the  case  of  John  Wilbur  was  under  consideration  in  the  Women's 
Meeting,  which  charge  they  utterly  deny. 


28 


were  selected,  and  from  their  relationship  to  the  individ- 
ual under  care,  it  was  with  a  view  to  prevent  the  impar- 
tial exercise  of  our  Christian  Discipline  :  We,  therefore, 
now  on  behalf  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting,  advise  South- 
Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting  at  this  time  to  remove 
Samuel  Sheffield  from  acting  as  Clerk,  and  to  re-appoint 
Timothy  C.  Collins  to  the  service  ; — to  dismiss  the  case 
of  Timothy  C.  Collins  from  their  records,  and  discharge 
the  Committee  appointed  last  month  to  visit  him  as  an 
offender  for  retaining  the  records  of  said  meeting  as  ad- 
vised to  do  by  this  Committee  ; — and  likewise  that  the 
decision  in  the  eighth  month  last,  as  entered  on  their  min- 
utes in  relation  to  John  Wilbur,  against  the  judgment  of 
many  concerned  friends  of  that  meeting,  and  regardless 
of  the  united  advice  of  this  Committee,  be  now  set  aside, 
and  be  made  void  and  of  no  effect." 

The  meeting  not  being  willing  to  receive  this  advice, 
as  it  was  bound  to  do  by  the  provisions  of  Discipline,  and 
then,  if  not  satisfied  therewith  to  appeal  therefrom  ;  and 
the  advice  being  offered  in  the  name  and  on  behalf  of  the 
Cluarteily  Meeting,  the  Committee  deemed  it  proper  to 
make  the  following  report  of  the  case  to  the  Quarterly 
Meeting  in  the  11th  month,  proposing  that  South-Kings- 
town Monthly  Meeting  should  be  dissolved,  viz  : 

"  To  Rhode-Island  Quarterly  Meeting  to  he  held  at 
Somerset  : 

The  Committee  appointed  to  visit  Swanzey  and  South 
Kingstown  Monthly  Meetings,  and  for  other  services,  re- 
port:— that  several  of  their  number  attended  two  sittings 
of  Swanzey  Monthly  Meeting,  and  communicated  such 
advice  as  appeared  to  them  suitable  at  the  time  and  as  way 
opened  for :  that  they  attended  the  Monthly  Meeting  of 
South-Kingstown  in  the  eighth  month,  and  in  conjunc- 
tion with  a  number  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee 
then  present,  endeavored  to  labor,  we  trust  in  a  spirit  of 
love^  for  the  preservation  of  right  order  in  the  exercise  of 
the  Discipline,  and  to  encourage  a  proper  submission  to 
the  advice  of  superior  meetings,  so  essential  to  the  best 
interests  of  our  Society.  We  regret  to  inform  that  our 
counsel  did  not  meet  on  the  part  of  many  with  a  kind  re- 


29 


ception,  and  the  disposition  was  manifest  and  prevailed, 
to  act  as  an  independent  body. 

The  following  communication  was  prepared  and  pre- 
sented at  their  last  meeting,  viz.:  [cited  above.]  This 
communication  was  read  in  the  meeting  and  directed  to 
be  recorded,  and  its  further  consideration  referred  to  their 
next  meeting.  Several  friends  expressed  their  desire  that 
its  recommendations  should  be  conformed  to  by  the  meet- 
ing. From  what  has  been  witnessed  by  the  Committee, 
and  from  authentic  information  derived  from  others,  they 
have  come  to  the  conclusion  after  a  careful  consideration 
of  the  subject,  that  South-Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting 
is  not  in  a  suitable  state  to  conduct  the  affairs  of  the 
church  in  accordance  with  our  Christian  Discipline,  nor 
consistently  with  our  religious  profession.  We  therefore 
submit  it  to  the  (Quarterly  Meeting  as  our  judgment,  that 
South-Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting  be  dissolved,  and  that 
the  members  constituting  it  be  joined  to  those  constitut- 
ing Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting." 

This  report  was  weightily  considered  and  fully  united 
with,  and  the  meeting  accordingly  dissolved :  and  the 
following  minute  made  in  the  case,  viz  : 

The  Committee  appointed  at  our  last  meeting  to  visit 
Swanzey  and  South  Kingstown  Monthly  Meetings,  and 
for  other  services,  made  the  following  report,  viz :  [see 
said  report  above]  which  is  accepted  ;  and  after  a  solid 
consideration  of  the  subject,  this  meeting  concluded, with 
the  unity  of  the  Women's  Meeting,  to  discontinue  and 
dissolve  South  Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting,  and  to  join 
its  members  to  those  composing  Greenwich  Monthly 
Meeting,  and  to  join  the  Select  Preparative  Meeting  to 
those  of  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting  :  the  books  of  re- 
cord and  papers  of  the  former  are  to  be  delivered  to  such 
person  as  the  latter  may  appoint  to  receive  them.  The 
proceedings  of  South-Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting 
against  Tmiothy  C.  Collins,  after  being  informed  by  the 
Committee  acting  on  our  behalf  of  the  advice  given  to 
him,  are  hereby  annulled  and  declared  to  have  no  effect 
whatever.  And  the  minute  made  in  the  5th  month, 
adding  to  the  Committee  appointed  in  the  4th  month, 
upon  the  complaint  made  against  John  Wilbur,  of  five 
members,  and  the  minute  made  in  the  8th  month,  accept- 


30 


ing  the  report  of  a  part  of  the  Committee  in  his  case,  be- 
ing at  the  time  made  against  the  direct  advice  of  the 
Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee,  are  also  hereby  annulled 
and  declared  void.  All  other  unfinished  business  now  be- 
fore that  meeting,  is  directed  to  be  transferred  to  Green- 
wich Monthly  Meeting,  and  Committees  and  others  under 
appointment  by  South-Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting,  are 
reijuested  to  report  to  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting.  The 
Committee  now  under  appointment  are  requested  to  have 
a  copy  of  this  minute,  signed  by  the  Clerkj  read  at  the 
opening  of  their  next  Monthly  Meeting  at  Hopkinton, 
and  to  request  those  assembled  quietly  to  separate  and 
consider  themselves  of  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting,  and 
under  its  care.  At  Rhode-Island  Quarterly  Meeting  held 
at  Somerset  lllh  mo.  3d,  1842." 

The  Committee  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting  attended  the 
next  Monthly  Meetmg  of  South-Kingstown  held  at  Hop- 
kinton, the  21st  of  the  11th  month,  and  read  the  minute 
of  the  Quarterly  Meeting  ;  when  all  those  who  were  in 
unity  with  said  meeting  quietly  withdrew  from  the  house; 
while  the  others  remained  together  and  came  to  the  con- 
clusion to  appeal  to  our  next  Yearly  Meeting  from  the 
judgment  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting. 

At  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting  of  Friends  held  at 
Cranston  11th  mo.  28th,  1842,  the  foregoing  communica- 
tion from  the  Quarterly  Meeting  was  read,  and  the  fol- 
lowing minute  made  in  relation  thereto,  viz  : 

After  deliberate  consideration  on  the  contents  of  said 
extracts  from  the  minutes  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting,  and 
in  due  submission  as  a  subordinate  branch  of  said  meet- 
ing, we  acquiesce  therein,  and  acknowledge  and  receive 
the  members  heretofore  constituting  South  Kingstown 
Monthly  Meeting,  as  members  of  this  meeting,  subject 
alike  with  our  other  members  to  its  future  disciplinary 
action  and  decision  ;  and  in  this  we  have  the  concurrence 
of  our  Women's  Meeting  :  and  the  members  heretofore 
constituting  South  Kingstown  Select  Meeting  are  in  like 
manner  joined  to  Greenwich  Select  meeting.  And  it  is 
the  conclusion  of  this  meeting,  that  Preparative  meetings 
be  held  as  heretofore  until  otherwise  directed,  viz  r  at 


31 


South  Kingstown,  Western,  and  Hopkinton  ;  and  the 
said  meetings  are  requested  to  report  to  this  meeting,  and 
the  Clerk  is  requested  to  furnish  each  of  the  said  Prepar- 
ative meetings  with  a  copy  of  this  minute. 

The  Clerk  of  this  meeting  is  appointed  to  call  for  and 
receive  the  books  of  record  and  papers  of  the  late  Month- 
ly Meeting  of  South-Kingstown." 

At  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting  of  Friends,  held  at 
East  Greenwich  1st  mo.  2d,  1843,  the  following  minute 
was  made,  viz  : 

"  It  appearing  by  the  records  of  the  late  Monthly  Meet- 
ing of  South  Kingstown,  that  a  Committee  was  appoint- 
ed in  the  4th  month  last,  in  the  case  of  John  Wilbur,  to 
labor  with  him,  and  report  their  sense  to  a  future  meet- 
ing :  agreeably  to  the  directions  of  the  (Quarterly  Meet- 
ing, as  by  minute  of  said  meeting  sent  down  and  received 
by  us  at  our  last  Monthly  Meeting  will  appear — said  Com- 
mittee are  now  requested  to  report  to  this  meeting." 

The  following  action  was  taken  in  the  case  at  the  next 
Monthly  Meeting,  viz  : 

"  At  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting  of  Friends  held  at 
Coventry  1st  mo.  30th,  1843.  The  Committee  in  the 
case  of  John  Wilbur  as  referred  to  by  minute  of  our  last 
Monthly  Meeting,  and  who  were  thereby  requested  to  re- 
port to  this  meeting,  made  the  following,  viz  : 

We  of  the  Committee  appointed  by  South-Kingstown 
Monthly  Meeting  in  the  4th  mo.  last,  in  the  case  of  John 
Wilbur,  report :  that  we  have  attended  to  the  duties  as- 
signed us  by  meeting  John  Wilbur  and  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing's Committee,  and  hearing  the  evidence  in  the  case  ; 
and  which  was  in  our  judgment  sufficient  to  substantiate 
the  charges  preferred  against  him  ;  which  charges  having 
relation  altogether  to  his  departure  from  Discipline  and 
good  order,  it  was  evident  to  us  that  his  defence  ought  to 
be  predicated  on  that  ground  alone  ;  and  whereas  the  oth- 
er part  of  the  Committee  were  willing  to  allow  him  to 
make  his  defence,  by  leaving  this,-  the  only  legitimate 
ground,  and  go  into  a  justification  of  his  conduct  by  al- 
lusions to  doctrines,  which  in  our  view  was  entirely  for- 
eign to  the  subject  matter  under  consideration  :  we  there- 
fore felt  ourselves  bound  to  dissent  from  such  a  course  al- 


32 


together  ;  and  it  is  our  united  sense  and  judgment  that  he 
is  not  in  a  situation  and  state  of  mind  to  be  continued  a 
member  of  our  religious  society ;  which  we  submit  to 
Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting  of  Friends  next  to  be  held 
at  Coventry.  HEZEKIAH  BABCOCK, 

WILLIAM  S.  PERRY. 
South-Kingstown,  1st  mo.  21,  1843. 

Which  report,  after  a  time  of  solid  and  deliberate  consid- 
eration of  the  subject  was  united  with:  and  he,  the  said 
John  Wilbur,  is  accordingly  disowned  the  right  of  mem- 
bership in  our  religious  Society  ;  having  the  unity  of  the 
Women's  Meeting  herein." 

At  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting  of  Friends,  held  at 
Cranston,  2d  mo.  27th,  1843,  the  following  minute  was 
made  : 

"  The  Committee  to  prepare  an  essay  of  a  minute  to  be 
placed  on  our  records  m  relation  to  the  disownment  of 
John  Wilbur  as  a  member  of  our  religious  Society,  pro- 
pose the  following, — to  be  preceded  by  the  communica- 
tion made  to  South-Kingstown,  viz :  The  Committee 
appointed  by  South-Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting,  in  the 
4th  mo.  last,  in  the  case  of  John  Wilbur,  on  account  of 
the  preceding  communication,  and  in  accordance  with 
the  decision  of  the  (Quarterly  Meeting,  requested  to  re- 
port to  this  meeting ;  having  at  our  last  meeting,  besides 
their  written  report,  verbally  reported  that  two  of  their 
number  sought  an  interview  with  him  on  the  subject  of 
their  appointment,  which  he  declined  ;  and  that  the  other 
two  members  of  the  Committee,  declining  to  act  in  the 
case,  we  were  induced  to  unite  with  them  in  the  conclu- 
sion that  further  attempts  to  labor  with  him  would  not  be 
productive  of  benefit,  and  that  it  was  incumbent  on  us 
for  the  clearing  of  Truth,  to  disown  him  as  a  member  of 
our  religious  Society. 

In  coming  to  this  painful  conclusion,  the  meeting  has 
been  deeply  and  solemnly  impressed  with  the  conviction, 
that  his  departures  from  our  Christian  order  have  been 
the  result  of  a  want  of  a  humble  dependence  on  the 
teachings  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  would  have  preserved 
him  in  the  path  of  propriety  and  safety.  We  feel  an 
earnest  desire  that  through  mercy,  he  may  yet  be  brought 
to  a  living  sense  of  his  situation,  and  be  favored  to  at- 


tain  that  place  of  true  humility,  in  which  he  will  be  con- 
cerned to  seek  reconciliation  with  Friends." 

From  the  decision  of  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting, 
John  Wilbur  appealed  to  Rhode-Island  duarterly  Meet- 
ing, which  confirmed  the  judgment  of  the  Monthly 
Meeting,  in  disowning  him  from  our  religious  Society. 
From  this  decision  of  the  (Quarterly  Meeting,  he  appeal- 
ed to  the  Yearly  Meeting,  in  the  6th  month,  1844,  and 
that  meeting,  by  a  very  united  voice,  confirmed  the 
judgment  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting.  The  following  is 
the  minute  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  made  in  his  case,  viz : 

"  The  Committee  appointed  on  third  day  forenoon,  the 
18th,  to  take  into  consideration  the  case  of  John  Wilbur's 
appeal  from  the  judgment  of  Rhode-Island  (Quarterly 
Meeting,  in  confirming  the  judgment  of  Greenwich 
Monthly  Meeting,  in  disowning  him,  made  a  report  signed 
by  all  the  Committee,  [twenty-one  in  number,]  except 
one  :  that  having  all  attended  to  their  appointment,  they 
had  heard  the  appellant  and  the  Committee  of  the  said 
Quarterly  Meeting,  fully  in  the  case,  as  acknowledged  by 
the  parties,  and  that  after  a  time  of  solemn  deliberation, 
they  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  judgment  of 
Rhode-Island  Quarterly  Meeting  ought  to  be  confirmed ; 
which,  after  a  time  of  deliberate  consideration  thereon, 
was  united  with  and  accepted  by  this  meeting  ;  and  the 
judgment  of  said  meeting  confirmed  accordingly. 

"  And  John  Wilbur  being  called  in,  agreeably  to  his 
request,  the  conclusion  of  the  meethig  in  his  case,  as  em- 
braced in  the  above  minute,  was  read  in  his  presence." 

While  present  in  the  Meeting,  he  acknowledged  that  he 
had  been  kindly  and  fully  heard  by  the  Committee. 

Agreeably  to  notice  given,  a  portion  of  the  members 
of  the  late  South-Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting,  appealed 
to  the  Yearly  Meeting  in  1843,  from  the  decision  of 
Rhode-Island  Quarterly  Meeting  in  dissolving  said  Month- 
ly Meeting,  and  attaching  its  members  to  Greenwich 
Monthly  Meeting,  and  the  judgment  of  the  Quarterly 
Meeting  was  confirmed  by  the  Yearly  Meeting.  The 
following  is  the  minute  in  the  case  : 
5a 


34 


**  The  Committee  appointed  on  third  day  morning  last 
to  take  into  consideration  the  case  of  appeal  from  the 
judgment  of  Rhode-Island  (Quarterly  Meeting,  in  dissolv- 
ing South-Kingstown  Monthly  Meeting,  and  annexing 
the  members  constituting  it  to  Greenwich  Monthly  Meet- 
ing, now  produced  a  report  signed  by  thirteen  of  their 
number,  informing  the  meeting,  that  having  given  a  full 
hearing  to  the  parties  respectively,  they  had,  upon  delib- 
eration, come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  judgment  of 
Rhode-Island  (Quarterly  Meeting  ought  to  be  confirmed  ; 
which  after  a  time  of  deliberate  consideration  thereon, 
was  united  with  and  accepted  by  this  meeting,  and  the 
judgment  of  said  meeting  confirmed  accordingly."* 

As  further  evidence  of  the  insubordination  existing  in 
this  Yearly  Meeting  we  proceed  to  state,  that  in  Swanzey 
Monthly  Meeting,  for  a  long  time  past,  there  has  been  a 
want  of  that  love  and  unity  which  are  essential  to  the 
right  conducting  of  the  alfairs  of  Truth.  More  than 
two  years  since,  Committees  were  appointed  in  that  meet- 
ing to  propose  the  names  of  Clerk  and  Overseers  of  So- 
ciety, but  they  were  unable  to  agree  upon  friends  for 
those  stations.  The  state  of  this  meeting  had  claimed 
the  attention  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  and  al- 
so of  a  Committee  of  Rhode-Island  (Quarterly  Meeting 
previous  to  our  last  Yearly  Meeting  ;  and  much  labor  had 
been  bestowed  by  them  to  remedy  the  existing  difficul- 
ties, and  to  produce  that  organization  of  the  meeting  that 
would  enable  it  to  carry  into  effect  the  Discipline,  the 
administration  of  which  had  been  seriously  interrupted. 

At  our  Yearly  Meeting  in  1844,  the  Committee  to  visit 
subordinate  meetings  reported,  that  in  one  or  more  of  our 
Monthly  Meetings,  our  Christian  Discipline  was  not  main- 


*  This  committee  consisted  of  twenty-one  Friends — six  of  whom  pre- 
sented a  counter  report,  in  which  they  dissented  from  the  above  report, 
on  account  of  what  they  apprehended  irregularity  in  some  of  the  pro- 
ceedings :  and  two  declined  to  sign  either  report ;  but  when  the  case 
was  under  consideration  in  the  meeting,  one  expressed  his  unity  with  the 
report  of  the  majority. 


S5 


tained  to  the  honor  of  Truth,  and  a  Committee  was  again 
appointed  to  extend  a  general  care  on  our  behalf  for  the 
preservation  of  love  and  unity  among  our  members ;  the 
maintenance  of  our  Christian  principles  and  testimonies, 
and  in  the  support  of  the  Discipline  of  the  Church,  and 
in  the  ability  that  may  be  afforded  them,  to  assist  and 
advise  such  meetings  and  members  as  circumstances  may 
require  and  way  open  for  under  the  direction  of  best  Wis- 
dom." 

The  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  with  a  number  of 
the  (Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  then  under  appoint- 
ment, met  with  those  two  committees  in  the  7th  month, 
and  united  with  a  part  of  them  in  their  proposing  to  the 
meeting  the  names  of  certain  persons  for  Clerks  and  Over- 
seers. 

With  the  exception  of  two  or  three  individuals,  all  the 
members  of  those  committees  of  the  Monthly  Meeting, 
either  united  with  the  names  proposed  or  expressed  their 
acquiescence  therein,  when  in  the  presence  of  the  com- 
mittee ;  but  those  who  had  thus  acquiesced,  subsequently 
did  not  sign  the  reports  to  the  Monthly  Meeting.  The 
names  of  the  individuals  thus  agreed  upon,  were  accord- 
ingly reported  to  the  Monthly  Meeting,  and  the  reports 
were  fully  united  with  by  the  large  body  of  the  members 
of  that  meeting,  although  a  few  individuals  opposed  it. 

The  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  then  presented  to  the 
meeting  the  following  written  advice,  viz  : 

"  jTo  Swanzey  Monthly  Meeting  : 

"  Dear  Friends, — The  Committee  appointed  by  the 
Yearly  Meeting  to  extend  a  general  care  on  its  behalf  for 
the  preservation  of  love  and  unity  among  our  mem- 
bers, the  maintenance  of  our  Christian  principles  and  tes- 
timonies, and  the  support  of  the  Discipline  of  the  Church, 
and  in  the  ability  that  may  be  afforded  them,  to  assist 
and  advise  such  meetings  and  members  as  circumstances 
may  require  and  way  open  for,  under  the  direction  of 
best  Wisdom  ;  having,  from  a  belief  that  our  duty  under 


S6 

our  appointment  required  it,  met  with  the  committees  of 

yonr  meeting,  appointed  about  two  years  since,  to  pro- 
pose the  names  of  Overseers  and  Clerks  ;  and  apprehend- 
ing that  the  cause  of  Truth  and  the  right  exercise  of  our 
Christian  Disciphne,  urgently  demand  that  there  should 
he  no  further  delay  in  the  cases,  were  united  in  giving 
the  following  advice  : — It  appearing  by  the  voluntary  de- 
claration of  those  members  of  a  committee,  who  were 
present,  appointed  as  we  apprehend  without  the  authority 
of  discipline,  and  out  of  the  usual  order  of  Society,  to 
assist  the  overseers  when  they  presented  a  complaint 
against  an  individual,  that  they  believed  Edmund  Chase 
to  be  innocent  of  the  charges  preferred  against  him  by 
said  individual  ;  and  that  they  did  not  intend  in  their  re- 
port to  the  Monthly  Meeting,  to  implicate  him ;  we  were 
united  in  judgment  that  this  document  ought  not  to  be 
retained  by  the  Monthly  Meeting  among  its  papers,  but 
destroyed. 

The  Committee  on  Overseers  informed  us  that  they 
had  agreed  upon  five  friends  for  this  station,  and  there 
being  but  one  of  them  from  within  the  limits  of  Fall 
River  Preparative  Meeting,  (it  being  usual  to  appoint  two 
from  that  meeting,)  in  view  of  the  circumstances,  we 
were  united  in  advising  the  committee  to  propose  to  the 
meeting  to  appoint  Edmund  Chase,  in  addition  to  those 
named,  there  not  appearing  any  ground  for  the  objection 
originally  urged  against  his  appointment.  The  Commit- 
tee in  relation  to  Clerks,  informed  us  that  they  could  not 
agree  upon  names,  and  after  a  full  consideration  of  the 
case,  we  thought  it  right  to  advise  the  committee  to  pro- 
pose to  the  Monthly  Meeting  to  appoint  David  Shove  for 
Clerk,  and  Jonathan  Freeborn  for  Assistant  Clerk ;  and 
we  are  now  united  in  advising  the  Monthly  Meeting  to 
make  these  appointments,  and  carry  into  effect  these  rec- 
ommendations, believing  that  thereby  the  best  interests 
of  the  Monthly  Meeting  and  its  preservation  in  unity 
with  the  (Quarterly  and  Yearly  Meetings  will  be  promo- 
ted. On  behalf  of  the  Committee, 

ROWLAND  GREENE." 
Swanzey,  7th  mo.  29,  1844. 

The  same  individuals  who  opposed  making  the  ap- 
pointments, now  opposed  the  acceptance  of  this  advice, 


37 


and  Thomas  Wilbur,  the  Clerk,  who  was  one  of  the 
number,  and  who  is  a  son  of  John  Wilbur,  refused  to  re- 
cord the  clearly  expressed  sense  of  the  meeting,  although 
earnestly  advised  to  do  so,  by  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittee in  attendance. 

The  condition  of  this  meeting  as  it  then  stood  was  pre- 
sented to  the  (Quarterly  Meeting  in  the  8th  month,  which 
released  its  committee  previously  under  appointment,  and 
appointed  another  to  visit  Swanzey  Monthly  Meeting 
and  assist  in  its  due  organization,  that  our  Christian  Dis- 
cipline might  be  supported  as  in  former  days  to  the  honor 
of  Truth. 

At  the  following  Monthly  Meeting  the  individual  who 
had  previously  acted  as  Clerk,  still  persisting  to  hold  that 
station,  contrary  to  the  fully  expressed  sense  of  the  meet- 
ing, and  to  the  earnest  entreaty  and  advice  of  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee,  and  the  Monthly  Meeting  having 
again  at  this  time,  (with  the  exception  of  those  persons 
who  had  manifested  their  opposition  at  the  last  meeting,) 
united  in  the  appointment  as  Clerk,  of  the  friend  who 
had  been  selected  at  the  previous  meeting,  the  individual 
thus  selected  proceeded  to  open  the  meeting,  and  the  rep- 
resentatives from  all  the  Preparative  Meetings  presented 
to  him  the  reports  from  those  meetings,  and  all  answered 
to  the  calling  of  their  names.  During  the  time  that  he 
was  preparing  his  opening  minute,  one  of  those  who  had 
opposed  his  appointment,  walked  to  the  Clerk's  table, 
which  Thomas  Wilbur  continued  to  occupy  and  refused 
to  leave,  and  placed  upon  it  a  paper,  which  he  immediate- 
ly arose  and  read,  without  the  liberty  of  the  meeting, 
which  was  believed  to  be  an  extract  from  the  revised 
statutes  of  Massachusetts,  showing  what  was  the  penalty 
for  disturbing  meetings  for  Divine  Worship,  and  other  re- 
ligious assemblies. 

Notwithstanding  the  meeting  had  thus  appointed  Da- 
vid Shove  as  Clerk,  and  he  was  acting  in  that  capacity, 


38 


Thomas  Wilbur  continued  to  sit  at  the  table,  and  to  form 
and  read  minutes  ;  and  to  prevent  confusion,  Friends,  af- 
ter having  read  the  minute  of  the  (Quarterly  Meeting  ap- 
pointing its  Committee,  adjourned  to  a  later  hour  in  the 
afternoon  ;  by  far  the  larger  part  of  the  Men's  Meeting 
and  all  the  Women,  withdrawing  from  the  house,  and 
mostly  assembling  again  at  the  hour  of  adjournment,  to 
transact  the  business  of  the  meeting.  The  persons  who 
sustained  the  former  Clerk  in  his  decision  against  the 
judgment  of  the  meeting,  with  several  women  who  were 
also  disaffected  towards  Society,  continued  to  hold  what 
they  call  Monthly  Meetings ;  and  at  Rhode-Island  Quar- 
terly Meeting,  in  the  eleventh  month,  they  presented  an 
account  purporting  to  come  from  Swanzey  Monthly 
Meeting,  which  was  not  received  or  in  any  way  acknowl- 
edged. After  the  business  of  the  (Quarterly  Meeting  was 
concluded,  these  individuals,  with  a  few  from  the  other 
Monthly  Meetings,  both  men  and  women,  most  of  whom 
had  for  a  length  of  time  openly  manifested  a  want  of 
unity  with  Friends,  remained  in  the  house,  and  called 
themselves  Rhode-Island  Gluarterly  Meeting,  appointing 
Clerks,  and  a  committee  to  visit  subordinate  meetings. 
This  Committee,  thus  appointed,  has  since  visited  the 
Monthly  Meetings,  and  attempted  to  sit  in  them,  and  to 
be  recognized  as  a  Committee  from  the  Gluarterly  Meet- 
ing, organized  as  we  have  described,  in  a  wholly  unpre- 
cedented and  irregular  manner.  Most  of  them  being  al- 
ready under  dealing  as  offenders  in  their  respective  Month- 
ly Meetings,  and  refusing  to  leave  Friends  select — for  the 
support  of  our  Discipline,  adjournment  has  been  resorted 
to,  in  order  to  be  freed  from  this  intrusion.  A  few  indi- 
viduals have  been  found  in  each  of  the  Monthly  Meet- 
ings in  Rhode-Island  duarter.  who  being  disaffected  to- 
wards the  body  of  Friends,  have,  under  the  advisement 
of  this  committee,  united  in  forming  what  they  denomi- 


39 


nate  Monthly  Meetings,  assuming  to  themselves  the 
names  of  those  meetings  respectively. 

At  the  opening  of  the  Yearly  Meeting,  on  second  day 
morning,  the  16th  of  6th  mo.,  the  Clerk  proceeded  to 
call  over  the  names  of  the  Representatives  from  the  sev- 
eral Quarterly  Meetings,  [eight  in  number,]  which  had 
been  previously  entered,  as  customary,  from  the  accounts 
that  had  been  handed  him  from  those  meetings ;  when  it 
appeared  that  all  the  Friends  named  in  those  accounts 
were  present,  except  three,  for  whose  absence  satisfactory 
reasons  were  given. 

After  commencing  to  read  the  minute  in  which  the 
names  of  the  Representatives  had  been  thus  entered, 
another  paper  addressed  to  New-England  Yearly  Meet- 
ing of  Friends,"  was  laid  upon  the  table,  also  purporting 
to  be  an  account  from  Rhode-Island  Quarterly  Meeting  ; 
and  by  direction  of  the  Yearly  Meeting,  the  names  of  the 
persons  therein  given  as  Representatives  to  this  meeting 
were  also  entered  upon  the  minutes  and  called,  when  it 
appeared  that  they  were  all  present.  The  last  named  ac- 
count was  signed  by  Charles  Perry,  Assistant  Clerk,  it 
being  stated  that  the  Clerk  was  prevented  from  acting  by 
sickness. 

A  proposition  was  then  made,  and  united  with  by  the 
meeting,  that  the  Representatives  from  the  other  seven 
Quarterly  Meetings,  those  named  in  the  two  accounts 
from  Rhode-Island  being  excluded,  should  constitute  a 
Committee,  before  whom  the  persons  claiming  to  be  Rep- 
resentatives from  that  Quarterly  Meeting  should  be  fully 
heard  on  the  subject  of  their  claims  respectively :  and 
that  the  Committee,  after  deliberating  thereon,  should  re- 
port to  the  Yearly  Meeting  which  of  the  two  bodies  thus 
claiming,  was,  in  their  judgment,  the  true  Rhode-Island 
Quarterly  Meeting,  in  unity  with  and  subordinate  to  this 
meeting,  and  entitled  to  send  Representatives  thereto — 


40 


no  objection  being  made  to  the  case  being  opened  in  the 
meeting  in  its  collective  capacity,  should  this  be  subse- 
quently judged  best.  The  persons  who  claimed  to  be  ag- 
grieved, denied  the  jurisdiction  of  this  committee,  and 
declined  entering  into  any  investigation  of  their  case  be- 
fore them,  notwithstanding  they  had  previously  submitted 
it  to  the  meeting,  preferring  charges  of  unfairness  in  the 
appointment  of  the  Representatives  in  the  (Quarterly 
Meetings.  They  stated  that  the  Representatives  were 
appointed  with  reference  to  this  business,  and  that  pre- 
scriptive measures  were  employed  in  one  (Quarterly  Meet- 
ing at  least,  to  obtain  such  as  were  desired.  It  was  dis- 
tinctly denied  by  Friends  that  any  such  intention  exist- 
ed— that  no  friend  from  any  part  of  the  Yearly  Meeting 
could  have  had  any  expectation  of  such  a  reference  when 
the  Representatives  were  appointed  ;  and  in  a  subsequent 
sitting,  this  denial  was  cofirmed  by  the  statements  of 
Friends  from  each  of  the  Ctuarterly  Meetings  so  ac- 
cused. 

It  may  be  proper  here  to  remark,  that  as  the  meeting 
had  previously  expressed  its  sense,  that  all  those  claiming 
to  be  members  of  Rhode-Island  (Quarterly  Meeting  ought 
to  leave  the  discussion  and  decision  of  the  question  to 
members  from  the  other  (Quarters  ;  and  as  the  Represent- 
atives from  the  other  Quarters  would,  under  the  proposed 
reference,  be  judges  in  the  case,  these  two  classes  being 
excluded,  the  number  of  those  who  opposed  the  reference 
of  the  subject  to  the  Representatives,  was  very  small. 

This  subject  having  been  thus  far  disposed  of,  the 
Meeting  came  to  the  conclusion  that  no  other  business 
could  with  propriety  be  entered  upon  by  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing till  it  was  fully  determined.  And  instead  of  proceed- 
ing to  the  appointment  of  Clerks  on  2d  day  afternoon,  as 
usual,  decided  that  the  Clerks  then  under  appointment 
should  continue  to  serve  the  Meeting  until  the  question 
was  settled. 


41 


Two  accounts  purporting  to  be  from  Rhode-Island 
Cluarter,  were  also  presented  to  the  Women's  Yearly 
Meeting,  and  the  whole  subject  was  similarly  disposed  of 
by  that  meeting,  by  referring  it  to  all  the  representatives, 
except  those  from  Rhode-Island,  to  report  thereon. 

Soon  after  the  opening  of  the  afternoon  sitting,  a  per- 
son under  appointment  as  one  of  the  Representatives  from 
Sandwich  (Quarter,  rose  and  said,  that  a  portion  of  the 
Representatives  had  been  together,  and  concluded  to  pro- 
pose the  name  of  Thomas  B.  Gould  for  Clerk,  and  Charles 
Perry  for  Assistant  Clerk.  Upon  this,  several  individuals 
rose  in  quick  succession,  and  expressed  unity  with  the 
nomination.  The  large  body  of  the  Representatives  in- 
formed the  meeting,  that  they  had  no  knowledge  that  any 
such  proposition  was  about  to  be  made,  and  by  a  very 
general  expression  of  the  members  of  the  Meeting,  as  well 
as  of  the  Representatives,  the  course  proposed  was  wholly 
disapproved.  On  calling  the  names  of  all  the  Represen- 
tatives in  attendance  from  the  several  (Quarterly  Meet- 
ings, except  Rhode-Island,  it  appeared  by  their  express 
declaration,  that  forty-one  of  their  number  were  not  con- 
sulted in  relation  to  the  appointment  of  Clerks,  and  that 
they  now  entirely  dissent  from  the  appointment  of  Thomas 
B.  Gould  and  Charles  Perry,  while  four  made  no  response 
when  their  names  were  called,  forty-five  being  the  whole 
number  in  attendance,  with  the  exception  of  those  na- 
med in  the  accounts  from  Rhode-Island.  But  the  persons 
thus  nominated  to  act  as  Clerks,  with  others,  their  adher- 
ents, proceeded  in  reading  and  speaking,  to  the  disturb- 
ance of  the  meeting.  The  Clerk  of  the  Yearly  Meeting, 
by  its  fully  expressed  direction,  solemnly  protested  against 
their  proceedings,  and  desired  them  to  desist.  To  this, 
however,  they  paid  but  litte  attention,  and  continued  to 
carry  on  their  own  business  till  the  adjournment  of  the 
meeting.    Similar  disorderly  proceedings  took  place  in 

6a 


42 


tlie  Women's  Meeting,  with  the  exception  that  the  Sece- 
ders  left  the  house  before  the  meeting  adjourned. 

During  these  disorders,  Friends  were  preserved  ni  much 
quietness,  patiently  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  com- 
mence the  business  of  the  Yearly  Meeting. 

On  third  day  morning,  the  17th,  the  committee  in  the 
case  of  Rhode-Island  Quarterly  Meeting,  made  a  report, 
in  which,  after  giving  a  statement  of  the  various  circum- 
stances connected  with  the  subject  referred  to  their  con- 
sideration, they  express  their  united  sense  and  judgment, 
that  the  accounts  from  Rhode-Island  Quarterly  Meeting, 
signed  by  David  Bulfum  and  Sarah  F.  Tobey,  as  Clerks, 
should  be  received  as  the  true  accounts  from  said  Quar- 
terly Meeting,  and  that  the  representatives"  therein  na- 
med should  be  considered  and  acknowledged  as  the  rep- 
resentatives from  that  Quarterly  Meeting  to  this  Yearly 
Meeting."  This  report  was  signed  by  forty-one  men, 
and  thirty-eight  women,  being  all  the  representatives  in 
attendance  in  the  Men's  Meeting,  except  four,  and  all  in 
the  Women's  Meeting,  except  two,  apart  from  the  repre- 
sentatives named  in  the  two  accounts  from  Rhode-Island- 
After  the  Report  was  read,  two  friends  were  appointed  to 
inform  the  representatives  named  in  the  account  signed 
by  Charles  Perry,  Assistant  Clerk,  that  the  Committee  to 
whom  their  claims  were  referred,  had  made  a  report, 
which  was  about  to  be  considered,  and  that  they  might 
be  heard  thereon.  After  a  short  absence,  one  of  the 
friends  reported  that  he  had  delivered  the  message  in- 
trusted to  them,  to  a  number  of  those  persons  named  in 
the  report,  whom  they  found  assembled  in  the  yard,  in 
company  with  others.  Having  waited  a  sufficient  time, 
the  meeting,  after  hearing  the  report  a  second  time,  by  a 
very  general  expression  confirmed  its  conclusions,  and 
thus  acknowledged  the  meeting,  of  which  the  accounts 
were  signed  by  David  Buffum  and  Sarah  F.  Tobey,  as 
Clerks,  to  be  the  true  Quarterly  Meeting  of  Rhode-Island. 


43 


and  the  Representatives  named  therein,  to  be  the  Repre- 
sentatives from  Rhode-Island  Q^uarterly  Meeting  to  this 
Yearly  Meeting. 

While  this  subject  was  under  consideration,  three  per- 
sons came  into  the  meeting  and  demanded  the  use  of  the 
Clerk's  table,  and  the  transfer  to  them  of  the  books  and 
papers  belonging  to  the  Yearly  Meeting,  stating  that  they 
were  deputed  by  what  they  called  "  New-England  Year- 
ly Meeting,"  to  make  this  demand.  The  Clerk,  in  reply, 
stated  that  New-England  Yearly  Meeting  was  then  sit- 
ting in  this  house,  and  could  not  deliver  the  books  and 
papers,  nor  the  occupancy  of  the  Clerk's  table  or  of  the 
house  to  any  other  persons. 

Since  this  time,  the  persons  who  disturbed  us  have  not 
attended  with  us,  and  we  have  been  favored  to  transact 
the  various  concerns  of  society  claiming  our  attention, 
with  great  harmony  and  brotherly  love. 

We  believe  the  number  of  those  disaffected  towards 
Friends,  within  our  limits,  to  be  comparatively  small,  and 
are  comforted  in  the  view,  that  the  body  of  Friends 
among  us  are  united  in  harmonious  labor  for  the  promo- 
tion of  the  cause  of  Truth. 

At  New-England  Yearly  Meeting,  6th  mo.  1845. 

"  The  Committee  appointed  to  consider  various  sub- 
jects connected  with  the  welfare  of  Society,  laid  before 
this  meeting  the  foregoing  Document,  being  a  Narrative 
of  facts  and  circumstances  that  have  tended  to  produce  a 
secession  from  Friends  in  this  Yearly  Meeting,  which  was 
read,  and  being  considered,  it  was  united  with  by  a  full 
expression  of  this  Meeting,  as  being  proper  information 
for  our  own  members,  and  those  of  otherly  Yearly  Meet- 
ings, and  the  Clerk  was  directed  to  sign  it  on  our  behalf." 
From  the  Minutes  of  said  Meeting, 

ABRAHAM  SHEARMAN,  Jun.,  Clerk. 

HANNAH  GOULD,  Jun.,  Clerk. 


PHOTOMOUNT 
PAMPHLET  BINDER 


Manu/aclured  by 
SAYLORD  BROS.  Inc. 
Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
Stockton,  Calif. 


BX7762  .F914 

Narrative  of  facts  and  circumstances 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


